Yeah you realize that Democracy is much larger than the United States of America. Many democracies around the world, which have been historically regarded as stable democracies, don't have a separate election for their top leader. That's a pretty American thing. Most democratic top leaders are selected by the ruling party, not the electorate. It's just assumed that your vote about who is top leader is rolled into your vote for your local representative for that level of government.

The rest of the world looked at that and thought 'and? What's the problem? We do that shit all the time and it works out.' Granted most democratic world leaders don't have as many powers granted to them as the United States grants their President but still. In a bigger perspective it's not a big deal.